This invention relates to a karaoke system, and more particularly to a karaoke system wherein music for a karaoke performance is incorporated in a story.
The term xe2x80x9ckaraokexe2x80x9d is generally defined to be xe2x80x9ca form of entertainment, offered typically at bars or clubs, in which people take turns to sing popular songs into a microphone over pre-recorded backing tracksxe2x80x9d (The New Oxford Dictionary of English published by Oxford University Press in 1998).
Recently, karaoke has constituted one of most popular amusements without distinction of age and sex and gained a firm position in the industrial world. Thus, karaoke equipment manufacturers have a fierce competition with others in order to permit their own karaoke system to be advantageously differentiated from those of other manufacturers. For this purpose, each of the manufacturers devotes itself to addition of any significant value to its own karaoke system. For example, it is proposed that a karaoke system is provided with a marking function. More particularly, a karaoke system is proposed which is constructed so as to make a variety of developments depending on results of marking obtained by the marking function.
However, such a marking function becomes old-fashioned nowadays, thus, the marking function fails to make a differentiation between karaoke systems. Also, the conventional karaoke systems were mainly developed for adults including students, resulting in them failing to be applied to children and/or youths.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantage of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a karaoke system which is capable of creating significant value added.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a karaoke system which can be conveniently used by children and/or youths.
In accordance with the present invention, a karaoke system is provided. The karaoke system generally includes a main unit operatively connectable to a display unit through a wire or by wireless. The main unit feeds the display unit with image data for displaying words of a music piece on the display unit and music data for playing accompaniment music of the music piece, thereby a karaoke performance being carried out according to the words displayed on the display unit and the accompaniment music outputted from the display unit. The karaoke system generally constructed as described above is featured in that the main unit is constructed so as to permit the display unit to display images constituting at least one story in order and so as to output words and accompaniment music of a music piece associated with the story to the display unit during the course of the story.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the story may be constructed so as to progress while being ramified into a plurality of branches. The branches are set so as to permit a user to select the branches as desired and each have a musical piece which is associated therewith set therein.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a selection menu for selecting the story may be displayed in the form of a picture.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a memory cartridge detachably mounted in the main unit. The memory cartridge has data for the musical piece and data for the story stored therein. Such construction permits replacement of the cartridge, so that the karaoke system may be accommodated to a variety of requests by users.